The Sunday Song: The Sculptor

 Posted by (Visited 5884 times)  Music
Aug 302009
 

There’s only one CD sitting over there on the sidebar, but I have a couple hundred songs sitting around, of varying quality, most of which never got decently recorded. Back when I lived in Alabama, I used to record onto a Walkman using the built-in mic. We didn’t have much money. 🙂 I still have those tracks. They sound awful.

The thing about looking back at old songs is that you can see where I was trying out new things; new tunings, new chords, new styles. In a lot of ways it’s a mix of more derivative and more adventurous than what I would write today.

I wrote this back in 1992 or so, and re-recorded it yesterday. At two hours per to do it nicely, I have months of work to do to re-record all of them. But it’s fun to revisit these old friends, and think about the times in which they were written.

This is called “The Sculptor” and it is from a cassette tape called Sun & Moon. Lyrics, chords, and recording notes after the break.

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SXSW 2010 PanelPicker – Making Virtual Worlds And The Web Collide

 Posted by (Visited 7401 times)  Game talk  Tagged with: , ,
Aug 272009
 

I know, everyone and their cousin has a panel up in the SXSW Panel Picker. Well, we at Metaplace do too, and here it is… go vote for it!

SXSW 2010 PanelPicker – Making Virtual Worlds And The Web Collide.

Description:
Until now, virtual worlds have been walled gardens restricted to their platform. This panel will explore how virtual worlds are now bridging to the “real,” web world. Twitter interfaces, embeddable virtual worlds and other bridges are opening opportunities for users to communicate and promote to the outside web.
Questions
Answered:
  1. What has the evolution of virtual worlds been in regards to access to the outside web?
  2. How far have virtual worlds come in opening to the outside web?
  3. What are the biggest benefits to this bridging?
  4. Are there downfalls?
  5. What are some of the case studies of this happening in virtual worlds now?
  6. How will updates and innovations in browser-based technology further this initiative?
  7. What does the future look like for virtual worlds in relation to the web?
  8. Can this opening of virtual worlds to the web be monetized?
  9. What are the biggest changes in gaming and virtual worlds to come from this?
  • How will this affect the non virtual world user?

    • M.U.L.E. remakes underway

     Posted by (Visited 11372 times)  Game talk  Tagged with: ,
    Aug 262009
     

    World of M.U.L.E. : M.U.L.E. remake underway.

    Some quotes:

    Melanie Bunten Stark (Dan Bunten’s daughter) informed the WoM community that a M.U.L.E. remake is underway, probably out this summer. Tell your friends and family and be on the lookout.

    And direct from her, on the Facebook page:

    Hey guys…I never thought that this lisencing process would be such a big deal. I’ve had to hire attorneys, get things signed, reviewed, etc. I told my team, we need to get something going by the end of this week. I know people have been without a new MULE for nearly 25 years, but seriously, let’s get this off the ground. The good news is that flash won’t take too long. Stay tuned…I’ll let you know something as soon as I do.

    Hang in there guys, we’re still working on getting you some MULE.

    I have received several emails asking about M.U.L.E. for iphone…that is also in the line up.

    M.U.L.E. for mobile is also in the works.

    This makes me happy because I am contemplating finally getting an iPhone (I hate to switch off T-Mobile because I use the tethering, hotspots, and roaming almost every time I travel… and their service has been great).

    EA’s Hilleman on the new games world

     Posted by (Visited 5326 times)  Game talk  Tagged with: ,
    Aug 262009
     

    I know, I know, I have been neglecting the blog lately. Sorry about that. 🙂

    I thought this article was well worth pointing out though. We tend to think of EA as one of the largest publishers in the games biz, and then conclude that perhaps it is slow to adapt. But in terms of how the games industry is changing, I actually think they are more on the ball than they are usually given credit for. The article is based on a speech he gave at the Stanford Hot Chips conference, apparently.

    Check out these stats!

    EA now typically spends two or three times as much on marketing and advertising as it does on developing a game. That’s because advertising is critical to getting a game in the top ten rankings. If you have a $10 million game, don’t be surprised if the the TV advertising costs drive the ad budget to $30 million. If a $60 game yields revenue of $35 for EA, then (according to my math) the company has to sell 1.1 million copies just to break even.

    — EA’s chief creative officer describes game industry’s re-engineering | VentureBeat

    Bear in mind, though, this is what they are moving away from. The rest of the article probably won’t be a huge surprise to regular readers on this blog, but it’s good to see big industry giants taking steps in these new directions. Hilleman specifically cites looking to Korea as a model, lifestyle-driven development goals, lower cost development, web models, “multihead” games (where many platforms connect to one game experience, albeit in different ways)…

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